Is the grassland restoration a vital solution for weed control? Some findings from a large scale grassland restoration case study in the Hortobágy National Park
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56617/tl.3910Keywords:
seed sowing, succession, cropland, weed suppressionAbstract
In the last few decades around 10% of area of fromer croplands was abandoned in Central- and Eastern Europe. Without active weed control a rapid increase of weed cover on these abandoned croplands is often expected, which may cause also weed infestation of native grasslands and managed crop fields. Thus, in several cases cost demanding weed control is necessary to suppress weeds. At the same time the conservation of biodiversity in native grassland fragments became a high conservation priority aim. Weed control by grassland restoration may be the most effective option to fulfil both aimes. In this paper we study the role of sowing of two low-diversity seed mixtures and yearly mowing in weed control of former croplands. We found that rapidly forming cover of sown grasses effectively suppressed short-lived weeds and their germination except in the first year. Dense seed bank of short-lived weeds forms a threat of later weed infestation of the sown fields. In the short run perennial weeds cannot be suppressed easily by sowing and yearly mowing. We found that different perennial weed species characterised fields with different site history but sown with the same seed mixture. Agropyron species were only detected on former alfalfa fields, while Cirsium arvense was found only on former cereal and sunflower fields. Our findings underline the usefulness of grassland restoration in weed control, but a proper post-restoration management should be also planned considering several factors like the composition of a seed mixture and last crop of a receptor field.
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